The Boy Who Would Be Peter
by kuasimodo28
Summary: Ever wonder how Peter Pan became Peter Pan of never Neverland? Here's my take on his history.


**Disclaimer: Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Smee and the horrid Captaon Hook belong to J.M. Barrie. Oh, and the lost boys too. The rest of the characters are mine, as is the plot. Please R & R. I'd be ever so grateful! **

**And for those beautiful, wonderful people who reviewed Billy, thanks so much! it feels great to be appreciated.**

_**Excerpt from a secret conversation between Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.**_

"I'm just a kid. That's what I keep telling myself and everybody else. I love having you and the Lost Boys around me. You are my family. But every so often I think of my mother and father. Who and where they are.

Remember Wendy, Tink? How she and her brothers changed a little bit of our lives when they came? Wendy's all grown up now and she has two children. We met one of them remember? Jane. She acted so grown up, even though she's younger than me. She looked exactly like Wendy did the first time I met Wendy. I wonder how old she is now? It's such a shame. WE could have kept her. But we saw how much Wendy loves her children and how much Jane wanted to go home. I woner if my mother ever loved me that much.

Sometimes I dream of a tall, handsome man who loved me very much. I remember soft words and love. Oh, how much of it. I wonder, was he my father?

I know, I know, it's time for the Treasure Hunt. But let me finish. I have to say this, just listen. I'm just wondering, if I had parents, would there be a Peter Pan and the Lost Boys in Never Never Land?

It's not that I'm unhappy. I am. This place and you, it's all I've ever known. I just wish that I could have known or remembered enough to choose.

Okay Lost Boys, I'm coming. You'll never find the treasure! Let's go, Tinkerbell. It's time we had some fun. So forget what I told you, ok? It's just that I've been wondering about my family, if I have one. That's all. Never mind. I have you, and that's all that matters."

_**The birth of Peter Pan and the death of Brenna Devine.**_

Her anguished gasp rent the air as Brenna struggled to deliver her child. She looked around in fear. They would not catch her. Her uncle would not take her baby away. Another contraction tore through her body, and she gritted her teeth, not allowing herself to scream. "Aidan, help me!" she whispered frantically, struggling to stand up.

"Don't move, Brenna!" Aidan urged. "I can see the head. Just one more push and it will be over."

"I can't. he'll find us!"

"We'll have to risk that. If you don't deliver our child now, you will both die!"

The worry and anxiety in his voice penetrated her pain-filled mind. With it came another contraction. Instinctively, she pushed and the squalling baby boy came into the world. Aidan picked him up, wiped the blood from his skin and cut the umbilical cord binding mother and child. She looked at her son, mistily. "Paedar," she whispered. She glanced at Aidan, smiled. "Our son," she said, cradling him against her chest. They lay like that in awed wonder for a while, but their happy moment was cruelly shattered by the hunting horn, signalling that the search had begun.

"He's coming!" she said, scrambling to get up. A searing pain shot through her abdomen and she looked down in surprise at the crimson stain on her dress. She was bleeding. She took a step forward, stumbled, fell. When Aidan looked around, she was on the ground, almost unconscious. "Brenna!" he said urgently, bending down to help her with one hand, while holding Paedar securely in the other. "Get up, we have to go now!"

"Go," she said weakly, trying to push him away.

"I'm not leaving you," he said grimly, trying to lift her up.

"Aidan," she said softly. "Aidan, I'm dying."

"No, you're not," he said angrily. "We can make it, Brenna. But you have to try."

"Oh, how she wanted to believe it. "take Paedar and go. He won't hurt me. But he will kill you both if he finds us. Please, Aidan. Save our son."

"I can't," he said, beginning to weep. "Don't ask me to."

"Aidan, I love you and I love our child. Save him. Take hime and leave. Promise me that you will protect him." She pulled him towars her, gave him one final desperate kiss, and pushed him away. "Go," she repeated.

"I'll come back for you," he vowed. "I promise."

With one last look at her, he ran, their son cradled safely in his arms.

She lay back and waited for her uncle to find her. By then, she knew, her lover and child would be far away and safe. The pain in her stomach had become a dull throbbing and her vision was blurring around the edges. She thought back to the day Aidan had come into her life. It had been at Sinead's birthday ball. She had looked into his deep green eyes and fallen headlong in love. They had danced, talked, and flirted throughout the night, and by the end of that evening she'd known that this was forever.

Their meetings had to be secret, of course. Her dead mother's brother was her guardian and her was also a greedy, ambitious man. He'd used her ruthlessly, countless of times. He's had plans to marry her, his own niece in order to gain her inheritance, he would have killed her had he known about Aidan, an their love affair. He did find out, of course. Suspicious of her comings and goings, he had spied on her and discovered the truth. So he had set a twenty-four hour watch on her, allowing her to leave the house only with him. When she'd discovered she was with child, she had wept with joy and fear. She knew that her uncle wanted the inheritance and that he would not let anything stand in his way. She knew that he would not let her child live if it was a boy. He kept her under lock and key and would not let her leave the house. It was Sinead, ultimately, who came to her rescue during Brenna's eighth month. She had carried letters back and forth between Aidan and Brenna and had engineered Brenna's escape, providing them with money and food. Somehow, her uncle had found out, and attacked Sinead and killing her, but not before Brenna had escaped. She had wept for the friend of her youth, but she knew that Sinead would have wanted her to be happy. And she would be, once Aidan and Paedar were safe. Even now, they would be on the ship, away from her uncle. Her son, her heir, was safe.

She was so tired. If only she cold close her eyes for a minute, just a minute, she would be fine. Then she'd wake up and escape. Thinking thus, she closed her eyes and drifted. She dreamed of love, that she was with her son and lover, and she smiled. She never woke. When Ambros's hunting party found her, her spirit had long since left her body, going where her heart led her. To her loves.

_**The life of Aidan Dempsey and His Son, Paedar.**_

Aidan fled Ireland with Paedar. The promise he had made to Brenna had to be kept. Their son would be safe. They arrived in Britain, a young man with grief etched on his every feature and his infant son.

He found a house, a small hut and found a job. For the next four years, Aidan worked hard, fulfilling his promise to Brenna. He was a responsible, dedicated labourer. His mother would have turned over in her grave if she'd known that her pampered younger son had become a labourer, earning no more than a pittance. He was a kind and loving father to his son, never losing his temper, always giving. Yet every night, before her went to bed, he thought of revenge on the man who had so cruelly taken his Brenna from him. He dreamt of it.

Little Paedar had he sapphire eyes and her soft mouth. The ache in Aidan's heart grew every time he saw her on his son's facee, especially in his sleep. The resemblance to his mother was uncanny. Though he had inherited Aidan's nose and his rust coloured hair, he favoured Brenna in personality. The stubborn nature and generosity of soul were the same traits that Aidan had treasured the most in Brenna. He only wished that she could see their son and marvel at him, like Aidan did everyday.

One thing was certain, if Aidan didn't extract revenge on Ambros, Paedar would.

_**Of Ambros Fogarty**_

I don't think of myself as a bad man. Not really. I love my land, don't I? And a man who loves can't possibly be bad, am I correct? Legally of course, the land is not mine. But I'm not worried about minor details like that. What I'm more worried about is finding that little runt my poor, dead niece gave birth to. And his father, of course. Why? To kill them. Then I'll get the money and the land. Don't they think I know what they call me behind my back? "Poor relation! Thief! Scoundrel!" I don't mind being called a thief or a scoundrel because let's face it, that's what I am. But 'poor relation'? I am not! This is my money as much as it was Brenna's. I was supposed to marry her, wasn't I? And wasn't my sister her mother? I don't see the problem. The inheritance would have come to me somehow anyway. But she had to go and ruin it all and fall in love with that idiot Dempsey. She had to have a child. And she had to do the stupidest thing of all. She had to go and die. So now I have to find the boy, kill him, kill Dempsey, and then claim the inheritance. And it's all her fault. My father was a drunkard. And an idiot. He left everything to my idiot sister Aine, and she left everything to her daughter Brenna. What does a man have to around her to get some respect?

The new maid is rather tasty. I think I'll have her sent up to my room tonight. I haven't had a woman since Brenna. Ah, now there was a wildcat. The more she fought and struggled, the more I wanted her. What a shame. We would have been wonderful together.

"Smee. Smee!" I wonder where that idiot is. Incompetent fools surround me. Ah, there he is, gasping and wheezing. Old fool. "Pack up. We're leaving to Britannia. I've found Dempsey."

"Yes, master." He falls to his knees, grovelling. I kick him carelessly. "Get up, you idiot. Go."

"He leaves, snivelling. I should get rid of him. Oh well, all in good time. All in good time.

_**The Death of a Father**_

"Dada, up!" little Paedar cried, lifting up his arms. "Go out," he demanded.

"Aidan smiled and knelt down. "Dada has to go to work, my lad. But I promise that I'll take you to the park when I get back. How's that?"

Paedar pouted, his bottom lip poking out. "Up?" he repeated hopefully.

"Up," Aidan laughed, swinging him up into his arms. He nuzzled Paedar's head, marvelling as he always did, at his beauty. "Give dada a kiss."

Paedar pursed his lips obligingly and gave Aidan a smcking kiss. "Can we go park?" he asked hopefully, his eyes wide.

Aidan smiled. "I promise. Tonight."

Squealing, the boy scrambled down and hopped about joyfully.

"Sally!" Aidan called to his neighbour, who looked after Paedar. "I'm off. I'll see you later."

Sally poked her head out and smiled. "I'm going to the market today, so I'll take the little one along with me. Don't you worry none, boy-o. I'll take care of him."

"Thank you, Sally," Aidan smiled.

"Now be off with you" she said, shooing him away. "Come lad, we'll give you some milk," she smiled at Paedar, who was gaily waving goodbye to his father. "Park," he reminded Aidan.

"I won't forget. Bye, my lad."

"Bye, dada! Bye!"

When he got home that evening, Paedar was already dressed and waiting. The moment Aidan walked in, he pounced. "Park!" he yelled. When Aidan just looked at him, his lower lip trembled. "Park?" he repeated again, hopefully.

"My, you're a stubborn one aren't you?" he laughed. Just like his mother. The thought echoed in his head. Banishing the unhappy thoughts from his mind, he changed quickly and they left the house together, Paedar's little hand tucked safely in his father's big, firm ones. They were content and happy, Aidan should have known it wouldn't last.

Their peaceful world was shattered when he noticed the two men who stepped out of the trees on his right. Then he saw the two who were approaching him from the front. Without turning he knew that there were four more on his left and back and that he and Paedar were surrounded. His grip tightened on Paedar's hand. "Let the child go. This is between you and me."

"On the contrary, my dear boy," Ambros snarled as he stepped out. "In actual truth, this is between me and the boy. You are unwanted and unnecessary."

"Lay a finger on him, Ambros, and I'll kill you with my bare hands," Aidan warned him grimly.

"Such manners from a nobleman! I wonder what your brother will have to say about this."

"My brother and I don't talk to each other, so I don't really care."

"Give me the boy, Dempsey, and I'll compensate you for it," Ambros offered.

"Will it bring Brenna back?" Aidan asked.

"If you want to join her, I can help with that too."

Aidan didn't answer. Instead, he thrust Paedar out of the way and started fighting. Six of them were knocked out before the rest realized what was happening. "Paedar, hide!" he shouted, punching yet another in the nose.

Paedar was a smart little boy. Ha always did what his father told him to. He ran as fast as he could to caves his father always took him to and hid in the shadows, waiting for his father to come and get him. Fear and anger were warring in his little chest, fear that the bad men would find him and anger that they hit his father.

Back at the park, Ambros and Aidan were engaged in battle. Swiping a sword from an unconscious henchman, Aidan moved out of Ambros's angry lunges and fought back with a rage that had been suppressed for four years. He parried, moved, saw an opening and took it. With a keening cry, Ambros fell to the ground, holding his bleeding arm and stared at the stump that used to be his hand. "My hand, you cut it off. You bastard!'

Aidan stood looking down at the coward, breathing heavily. "For Brenna," he said grimly. "Get up," he ordered, kicking Ambros. "Get up and fight like a man."

"Please, forgive me," Ambros grovelled, crawling to Aidan "Don't harm me. You can take your son and go back to Ireland. I won't bother you. I swear it on my mother's grave."

Aidan hesitated. How could he harm an unarmed man, even if that man was the one responsible for so much heart break? "Go," he said, turning away. "Don't come back." He took two steps forward, then stumbled when a searing pain shot through his side.

"You fool," Ambros spat, holding his bleeding hand. "Did you really think that I would let you go? Let my treasure go? Kill him," he said vaguely to two of the henchmen who had gotten up to stand beside him. "And make it slow. Goodbye Aidan, I'll send little Paedar your love when I see him, shall I?"

"No!" Aidan roared and rushed forward. The he stopped, a look of surprise on his face as they slashed at his chest. He looked down, and saw the blood staining his shirt. A fresh wave of fury broke over him, but it was overwhelmed by the fear that his son would be found and killed. He would not let that happen. He could not.

With a strength born of desperation, he grabbed the sword and killed them both in on fluid stroke. Then he ran. He know he wouldn't be able to take them all, not when he was injured and there were so many of them. He had to get to Paedar and go somewhere safe. Their house wasn't safe, not anymore.

He weaved through the trees, trying to lose his pursuers. Finally, hiding behind a big oak, he threw a few pebbles in the opposite direction, leading the chase away from him.

He staggered to the cave. "Paedar!" he called urgently, looking around for him.

"Dada! Where's bad man?" Paedar asked, throwing himself at Aidan.

"The bad man is coming, lad. We have to run away."

"Sally?"

"Sally can't come, son. Now let's go." He carried Paedar and staggered towards the wharf, where the dory he owned was. He was weak from the loss of so much blood, but he would save his son.

They got into the little boat and he pushed off, heading north, into the unknown. He held Paedar tightly in his arms. His vision was greying and the pain was almost unbearable. He knew that he was dying. _Dear Lord_, he prayed. _Keep him safe. Keep my son safe and live. Lead us to a sanctuary._

When Paedar fell asleep, Aidan looked up and saw Brenna. "I tried," he wept. "But I'm so tired. I need you to be with me."

She smiled and stroked his head. "We'll watch over him together."

When his spirit left his body, he didn't fight it. Instead, he took the hand she held out happily and embraced her. They were together again, and they would look after Paedar together. But to anyone who saw, there was only a little boy who was curled up sleeping on the body of his dead father, drifting into the unknown.

_**Of Tinkerbell and Never Never Land**_

"It's odd, isn't it? When you find a man boat drifting into fairy country? I'm Tinkerbell and four hundred years old. That's young by fairy standards, so I'm still considered a child. As I was saying, it was odd to see a man boat. So I went to peek. That's me, curious by nature. Do you know what I saw? An adorable little human boy, asleep on a man who had to be dead. The oddest thing about the whole situation though, was the fact that there were two ghosts looking around. The man looked like the dead man on the boat, but the woman's body was nowhere to be seen.

I tinkled at them, and the both looked at me and smile. Lovely people, both of them.

"Hello, little sister," she said. "What is this place?"

"Never Never Land. No one grows up here."

"Then this is where we shall stay."

"Who are you?" I asked, curiously.

"His parents," the man said, smiling gently at the little boy. "We want to keep him safe. Will you help?"

I nodded eagerly. "What's his name?"

They exchanged a glance. "It's Peter. Peter Pan," the woman told me.

And that's how you came here, Peter. Your parents loved you very much. They gave their lives for you. Have you ever wondered why Hook hates you so much? It's because he's Ambros Fogarty, your grand-uncle. He doesn't know who you really are, but he suspects. He's always suspected.

I promised your mother I would tell you the story when you were ready. You are. You are the heir to a vast estate in Ireland. Your grand-uncle murdered your parents for it. And he's been hunting you ever since. It was your father who cut off his hand. And it is you who will make him pay.

So think about it, and tell me who do you want to be? Paedar Dempsey, Marquis of Devine or Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys of Never Never Land?

You'll need some time. I'll leave you be.

_**Of Peter Pan and Captain Hook**_

"You'll never catch me, Hook!" I yell as I fly away. I've given it a lot of thought. And I realized that though I wanted to find my roots and family, I don't need to anymore. I know who I come from, I know who I am. I've dug my roots here, and they are deep. I have built a family here, and while they are not perfect, they are mine.

"DAMN YOU PETER PAN! I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I do!!"

I smile. Ah, the sweet sound of Hook in pain. Everything is back to normal. I have decided to stay Peter Pan, for now and forever.

**The End.**


End file.
